CPM may abandon agenda of third front

The CPM, the biggest Left party of the country, may abandon its agenda of uniting non-Congress secular parties to form a third front. 

The party has identified this line of action as its biggest mistake, which not only led it to stagnation, but also proved detrimental to growth of the Left forces. 

The party will now try to unite Left outfits and create mass struggles against the ruling dispensation. 

The CPM has accused regional parties of being opportunistic in nature, and decided not to go for a national-level alliance in the name of a “secular front against the BJP”. 

“They (the regional parties) have also displayed constant opportunism in allying with the BJP or the Congress as and when it has suited them. Despite this, we have been pursuing the line of rallying them around a common set of alternative policies at the national level. This has proved unrealistic and erroneous,” said the CPM's “Political Tactical Line: Draft Review Report”, which will be placed in the party congress scheduled for later this year. 

“Electoral tactics should be dovetailed to the primacy of building the Left and democratic front. In the present stage, given the role of the regional parties, there is no basis for forging an alliance with them at the national level,” the draft has said.  

The draft report has dwelt at great length on the mistakes in political and ideological lines the party has been repeating since the start of 1990s, which coincides with the period during which the Soviet Union collapsed and the globalisation and liberalisation of the economy began. 

The draft has also lamented the party's policy of coming closer with the Congress. It has noted that at times, the party has “tended to go towards having an understanding with the Congress” to forge unity against the BJP. 

The draft has pointed towards the failure of the party in properly understanding the changes the new economic policy has brought in the society.